


The Fable of Mako

by Murikamire



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28880307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murikamire/pseuds/Murikamire
Summary: 80 years after the attack on Republic city, the world is once again missing it's Avatar. Korra had disappeared into the tundra of the South Pole over 20 years ago, and people are wondering if she may ever reamerge, or if the world now has a new Avatar.
Kudos: 2





	The Fable of Mako

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't the beginning, just a starting point early in the first book I used, as I got a writing tip to never start with your first page, as people can be very self conscious about the first thing a reader reads. I have more than this done already, but I feel this is a good introduction to my style of writing. Any feedback or criticism is encouraged, as this is my first attempt at writing a novel. 
> 
> Also, Mako is a placeholder name for now, and should not be confused for the Legend of Korra character.

The crowd was overwhelming, tens of thousands had gathered around the statue, and the plaza was fit to burst. It was like this every solstice, which was largely the reason Mako never came. As a child, his parents had kept him home on such days, only setting the TV to the live broadcast so they could watch the events happening at all the spiritual sites across the world. 

The pit of vines beyond the square was off limits, but every solstice some goof got over the fence and ran about for a few seconds on the inside before the White Lotus managed to catch them and hurl them back over. He couldn’t quite see that far from his position in the back, but Mako was sure some idiot managed to do it again this year. 

The sound was deafening. People were talking, shouting and chanting all over the place, and it was hard to clearly distinguish any meaning from the concussive wave of their combined voices. Not too far ahead of him though was his protest group. They hadn’t waited for him, and he doubted anyone had noticed he was missing at all, but if he concentrated, he could hear their chant, and he started to join them.

“No better than us! No better than us!” he tried calling in unison. But he could barely distinguish his own voice from the roar of the crowd, and he eventually abandoned the effort. “ _ Why did I even bother coming _ ?”, he asked himself. “ _ They didn’t even notice I was missing, and it’s not like I am making any difference _ .” 

He began to leave when, all of a sudden, he started getting a funny feeling. He looked at the statue. What once was the giant colossus of terror that had destroyed half of the city was now a monument to its savior. Republic City was no stranger to statues, some people even joked that there were more of these monuments then there were people. From Chief Sokka at the Water Tribe cultural centre, to Fire Lord Zuko at the train station, the first Chief of Police, Toph Beifong at Police Headquarters, and Avatar Aang in the bay taking up an entire island, the city was filled of effigies of long past heroes. The statue of Avatar Korra may not be the biggest, the most artistic or very realistic, but to most, it was seen as the greatest. It was made of pure platinum, scavenged from the mighty colossus that the dictator Kuvira had used to attack the city so many decades ago. The great sculpture Huan had not posed the statue like the warrior Korra was in her youth, all aggressive and mighty as she was. No, this statue was graceful with one hand reaching for the sky, and another towards the ground, her body twisted as if in the middle of a dance. If viewed at the right angle, it was supposed to look as if she was grasping the spirit portal she had created on that day of destruction, a symbolic gesture of her being the bridge between the two worlds. Huan Beifong had wanted to make this monument as a laurel of her bringing the spirit world and ours closer together, instead of her triumphs on the field of battle. At least, that is what the TV documentary had said.

Mako had seen the statue plenty of times before, as recently as last week even, but something about it struck him differently today. While looking at it, he couldn’t help but feel that Avatar Korra was looking back at him. Soon, he was transfixed, unable to break eye contact with her. He felt his heart beginning to race and started to retreat, walking backwards, his hands outstretched behind him, reaching for something to pull him away. Even though he was moving farther away from her, it felt as if the distance between them was shrinking, his vision zooming in closer to the carved platinum eyes of the once great Avatar. He was so far back though that he soon hit the wall of a building. He didn’t know why he felt this way, but it was a similar feeling he had when waking from one of his nightmares. He was scared, and suddenly wanted to be as far away as possible, but he still couldn’t look away. The distance continued to close between the two, colossus and boy, even though he had stopped moving, his sight had become so fixed that he could no longer see the crowd. Even the mighty roar of voices began to dampen, until all he could hear was his own heartbeat. His eyes closed in, until all he saw was her eyes in turn, and then it happened. 

Onnasha was scanning the crowd, she knew if anything was to happen, it was probably going to happen here. There had been rumblings that several different groups were planning on staging some kind of strike during the solstice, be they the extremist equalist movements looking to knock the benders down a peg, or benders retaliating against the perceived degradation of their rights and privileges. There had even been rumors that some of the gangs were planning a spree of mass robberies while everyone was distracted, but Onna knew that none of these scenarios were too likely. It would probably be the same as every solstice, people would yell and cheer, working themselves up into a big frenze, only to slowly shuffle home at the end of the day. Some people would get in minor scraps, and a few people would return home to find their houses or businesses looted, but nothing too severe would take place. 

The crowd was bigger this year, and all the chaos had melted together into one big blur, people were chanting, others were talking, and some were just standing silent, waiting like her to see if anything would happen. This was her duty, and although it wasn’t as glamorous or exciting as she thought it would be, she still felt a sense of pride in doing it. However, being a spy was often a thankless job, and she often longed for her youth back on Kyoshi Island. She spent most of her time watching nothing happen, chasing down dead ends, and consorting with some of the most deplorable people in all of Republic City. But, when something interesting did happen, it seemed to all happen at once. 

Most people were looking forward, towards the statue and the spirit portal beyond. They were here for as many reasons as there were people. Some wanted the Avatars' help, some just wanted to curse at her, some to proselytize their beliefs, some just to bask in the glow of the light emanating from the spirit portal. 

Then, she saw something strange. A pair of small white lights at the back of the crowd, and at the same time, she heard the entire crowd gasp in unison. She turned around, and saw that the eyes of Avatar Korra’s statue were glowing. There was less than a second of pure silence, then the crowd erupted louder and more vigorously than ever before. She spun her head back around, and locked in on the glow she had seen earlier. For the briefest of moments, she saw a boy, his eyes glowing the same way the statue had. Could it be, the Avatar? Had he re-emerged after so many years. In the time it took her to think the thought, the glow had stopped, and the crowd began to pulse forward. Everyone was moving towards the statue, swarming the fence and near overwhelming the White Lotus. The boy did not though. The space created by the surging mob gave him room to escape, but he was not the only one moving in the opposite direction of the crowd. A small group of others seemed to follow him, and they were much closer to him than her. She then realised, she was not the only one who saw him. Onna waded herself through the crowd, she had to follow them. 

  
  
  


Mako’s heart was racing and he was drenched in sweat, he felt like he was on the edge of a cliff, staring down at an abyss. What had just happened? He looked around and the crowd was going wild. Everyone was moving forward and making more noise than ever. He had to get out of there. He had some wiggle room now, enough to make it to one of the alleys and exit the plaza. He started moving at a frantic pace, and even though he was escaping the crowd, he still felt the pressure mounting all around him. He began to move faster, practically running away from the commotion all around him. 

Once he finally reached the alley, he began to sprint straight ahead. He didn’t know what he was running from, only that he had to get away as quickly as possible. He didn’t stop, didn’t turn, he was barely even watching where he was going, so that when he reached a dead end it had taken him by surprise. He finally stopped and leaned against the wall to catch his breath. What had just happened to him? 

He tried thinking back, he was in the crowd when it started, the panic, the fear, but that wasn’t all. The way he focussed on the statue, it had been all encompassing. For a moment he had felt like he was alone in that mob, just him and the monument, just him and Korra. It was reaching out to him, she was reaching out to him, then everything had devolved into one of his nightmares. 

He shook his head. “Get a grip”, he told himself, “your fine, your alright, everything is ok.”

“Is it now?” asked a voice behind him. Mako’s heart stopped, and he felt a paralyzing sense of dread wash over him all over again. He turned around, and saw four men blocking off the exit of the alleyway. 

“Because, it looks to me, like you're about to drop dead.” said one of the figures. An evil smile grew on another man's face, his white teeth the only feature distinguishable in the shadows, a single gold tooth breaking the mold. “Don’t you think so Lee?”

“Oh, for sure” said the man with the golden tooth. “Looks like this kid is trying to do our job for us.”

“Well we can’t have that.” said the first voice again. The group started towards him, revealing themselves from the shadows. They were a menacing bunch. One had long hair down past his shoulders, a torn jacket and big boots. Another was wearing a large leather jacket that reached the ground, with spiky hair and a gold earring to match his gold tooth. One of them had such torn and frayed clothes that it looked like he had been hucked into a shredder. The last was in an immaculate suite, but had a strange tattoo in the centre of his forehead. 

Mako looked around for an avenue of escape. There was a door a little ahead of him to his left, a dumpster to his right, and an emergency fire escape ladder a little bit ahead of that. He began to inch himself towards the right, hoping he was able to leap from the dumpster to the ladder. His movement did not go unnoticed. 

“Whoa there”, said the man they called Lee, as he pulled out two bolt pistols from his long leather jacket. “Where are you going? We haven’t even had a chance to get your autograph yet.” The rest of the gang started laughing.

“My...autograph?” asked Mako.

“Yeah”, said Lee “it’s not every day you meet the Avatar. And I'm sure once you're dead, it should triple in value.”

Mako saw the smile form again on the face of the man with the gold tooth. An evil smile that said more than any of their threats could. The man with the odd tattoo started to take in a deep breath, then it happened again. 

  
  
  


Onna was hopping across rooftops, looking for her quarry. She had lost some time climbing one of the buildings, but in her experience, having the high ground was always worth a few seconds. She scanned the alleys below, looking for the boy she saw in the crowd. The area was pretty quiet, as everyone had rushed towards the plaza when the eyes of Avatar Korra’s statue lit up. She could still hear a dull roar coming from that direction, but everything else seemed to be still. 

There was a large gap between the next two buildings, as an alleyway ran between them. Onna stopped for a second, backed up a few paces and started to sprint. Once she reached the edge of the building she leapt with all her might. While in mid-air, she slipped the hook from beneath her sleeve, and used it to grapple onto the ledge of a window-sill, she had narrowly made it. She clicked her heels and a steel blade came out of her toe. She used it to dig into the space inbetween to bricks, and then began to climb. 

Reaching the top, she began to run again, balancing herself on the sloped rooftops while also endeavoring to remain as silent as possible, she felt like she was a little girl running the obstacle course back home again. Ahead she heard voices, she looked down towards the end of the alley and saw the boy surrounded by four thugs. She quickly placed herself in a position to strike, one of the men had drawn out two bolt pistols, and the other three looked ready to attack as well. She was about to pounce, when all of a sudden a blinding light and a loud explosion struck dumb her senses. 

She was knocked off her feet and thrown to the other side of the roof. Her training kicked in though, and she unleashed her hook again to grasp onto the ledge of the roof. She hung there for a second, dazed and confused, before hoisting herself back up and looking back down into the alley, or what was left of it.

Debris was everywhere, bricks strewn the ground, and a small crater had formed at the end of the alley. She looked around and saw the dumpster had been thrown nearly an entire block farther down, an emergency exit ladder was mangled and near unrecognizable, and a door that was sealed tight had been blown off its hinges. In the middle of all this chaos, the boy laid unmoving, there was no sign of the other four men. She climbed down the building, there were plenty of handholds from the discarded bricks, and landed feet away from the boy.  “Hey, HEY!” she shouted, trying to wake the boy. “ _ Was he dead _ ?”, she wondered. As she drew closer, she saw his chest rise and fall, he was still breathing. “ _ I got to get him out of here.”  _ she thought. She hurled him, over her shoulders, and began to walk away. 

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome any comments, be they praise or criticism (especially criticism). I want to grow as a writer, and knowing what I am doing right or wrong is a big help. 
> 
> Please, let me know what references you understood from the previous Avatar series as well, so I can tell if I made it clear enough.


End file.
